(“Red Sovine’s as much a part of trucking as CB and hot coffee!”) But truckers also developed a taste for recorded comedy, both of the standup and musical varieties, and thus was born an entire, ridiculously under-reported subculture of the humor business, one whose stars are virtually unknown to the rest of the world. As documented in a memorable TV commercial from the 1980s, country storyteller Red Sovine was particularly loved by professional long-haul drivers. Musically, many truckers were inclined toward country artists like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard. Like any good subculture, truckers had their own fashion (the ubiquitous trucker hat, which is still with us today) and their own slang (some of which was heard on “Convoy”). Put it this way: Clint Eastwood would have never played a hippie, but he damn sure played a trucker in 1978’s Every Which Way But Loose. No, he was all man and could take care of himself in a fight if need be. The trucker was a rule-breaking rebel, flouting the authority of the dreaded highway patrolmen and the government nanny state alike, but he wasn’t some effeminate, overly-sensitive hippie. McCall’s #1 novelty smash “Convoy” from 1975. There passed a time in the 1970s when the professional big rigger served as a kind of American folk hero, as epitomised by C.W. Truckers are on the road for days at a stretch, most of that time confined to the cabs of their vehicles, and they need something to entertain them in the lonely hours between truck stops. It was an ideal marriage of form and function. The people who perhaps benefitted the most from the 8-track, however, were truckers. No longer was the LP shackled to the forever-homebound turntable. The allure of music-to-go, not just terrestrial radio but actual full-length albums that consumers could select themselves, made the 8-track a particular favorite of jean-jacketed stoners in the 1970s, who could at last dig some Led Zeppelin deep cuts while headed to the store for light beer and smokes. But it was the humble 8-track cartridge from 1964 which really gave people the power to take their tunes with them… provided they had a vehicle, that is. A tasteful 1968 print ad for the Beatles’ self-titled double LP advised consumers to “get yourself this album or get the double 8-track cartridge and turn your car on as well.” The portable music revolution is often credited to Sony’s cassette-playing Walkman, introduced in 1979.
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